Arrest of Francis 'Two Gun' Crowley

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Monday, December 28, 2015

Philadelphia gangsters Sam Grossman and Al Skale sat in the office of
their second story gambling and drinking resort the "Jewish Social Cub"
located at the south east corner of Girard Avenue and Watts Street. Sam
and Al were former lieutenants in Mickey Duffy's gang. Former because
Mickey was rubbed out in an Atlantic City hotel the previous summer.
Both Grossman and Skale had been picked up as material witnesses and
were currently out on bail.

But eighty-four years ago today they were in their office at the club.
Grossman sat at the desk, Skale perched on top. They may have been
divvying up the nights receipts as the former had $1000 in his hand as
five armed men entered the club and headed directly for the office. Once
inside the quintet played a hot number with their .38s. No encore
required.

Police were pretty quick to respond. When they entered the office
Grossman was keeled over the desk, that grand tight in one fist a gun in
the other. His eyes were glazing over but, not wanting to take any
chances, a cop knocked the gun from his hand. Skale was blown off the
desk and found floundering on the floor amidst $400 in small bills and an
ever increasing puddle of his own blood.
"Who shot you?", a cop asked,
"[expletive of your choosing] that. I don't know. Get me out of here."
Grossman was questioned but either couldn't or wouldn't respond.

Both men were taken to the hospital where they died a short time later.

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

T'was just about 6:00a.m., in New York City, on this date back in 1927 when Richard Lubey
crossed the threshold into his apartment after a long night of managing
his speakeasy. At the ripe old age of six and twenty years, Lubey had many a crime attributed to him, crimes like gun possession, robbery and counterfeiting.

Anywho-ville,
his wife who slumbered in the next room, heard him enter and begin to
disrobe. First his coat and then his vest. But before anymore articles
of clothing could be removed there was a rapping, some might say a
gentle tapping, a tapping at the apartment door. "Tis some gangster," Lubey muttered, "tapping at my apartment door. Only this and nothing more."

Mrs. Lubey
heard him answer the door but paid no attention to the conversation he
had with the early morning visitor.
Ah, but she would henceforth
remember/what happened next in that bleak December/ when from the
underworld came forth a member/ come to settle a bootlegging score.
A
bullet lodged above her bed/ which first passed through her husband's
head/ her husband who now lay dead, dead upon the foyer floor.

Thursday, December 10, 2015

Was on this morning in 1928 when some early birds came to an intersection
in Chicago Heights and found...a magic hat which they placed on a
snowman who miraculously came to life...just kidding, it wasn't a magic
hat they found but a dead body with four bullets in the head and neck.

Now I feel bad.

Here you were thinking you were going to be treated to a nice holiday
story and I talk about dead gangsters...let's try again shall we? While
Chicagoans were trying to figure out who was blocking their
intersection on this date back in 1928, about four hundred miles away
in Mount Clemens, Michigan, a trucker was hauling produce to Detroit when
something off to the side of the road caught his eye. He put on the
breaks. Jumping to the road he ran up and found a magic hat. He put it
on the nearest snowman who then began to dance around....ok, I lied
again. He didn't find a hat it was dead gangster who had been shot and
then his body lit on fire.

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Eighty-five years ago last night Nick Luciano, called
“Cheeks” because of a long scar on the right side of his face, was
invited to a small dinner party at a “grimy” lower Eastside restaurant.
After nearly a year of seclusion in Bayonne, NJ Luciano gladly accepted
the invitation. You see, the reason Nick was in Jersey was because he
squealed on some former gun toters he palled around with which ended up
with them going to the chair. These guys had friends and Nick knew they
weren't going to let bygones be bygones.

So into New York Nick went. The party, consisting of four other men and three women,
was going well and all seemed to be having a good time when at 4:00am
the next morning an undetermined number of men entered the restaurant
and made their way to the back room where Luciano and his cohorts were
having their fun. The men approached the party and pulled out pistols.
Knowing Luciano’s history, the men and women who were a moment before
partying with him all quickly vacated the premises and left “Cheeks” to
his fate. Once they had him isolated the gunmen opened up and perforated
Nick with twenty bullets.

Wednesday, December 2, 2015

Hollywood On The Spot: Crimes Against the Early Movie Stars. The lives of Hollywood’s early movie stars have become the stuff
of legend; the glitz and the glamour, the conspicuous consumption, the never
ending carousel of parties and premieres. Rarely discussed is the dark side of
their stardom; the constant fear that at any time they could become victims of
gunmen, kidnappers, or extortionists. In these pages are the stories that
normally get left out of the Hollywood history books: the armed robberies, home
invasions and the threats of abduction, maiming, and murder that plagued
Tinseltown throughout the early years. Whether it was “America’s Sweetheart”
Mary Pickford or sex siren Mae West – no star was immune. Hollywood on the Spot brings to light the nightmares inside the
Dream Factory.

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Let us remember John Cody, said to be a member of St. Louis' Cuckoo
gang, who was found in a ditch on this date back in 1927. What he did or
didn't do to end up in a ditch on the outskirts of town wasn't stated.
We here at DGIS offer a few motives.
1) Gang warfare
2) Internecine gang warfare
3) Highjacking booze
4) Somehow wronging some other underworld figure
5) Stating that "Al Jolson really sings!" in the Jazz Singer without first saying, "Spoiler alert."

My new book

About Me

Author of: On The Spot: Gangland Murders in Prohibition New York City 1930-1933, Hollywood on the Spot: Crimes Against the Early Movie Stars, Legs Diamond: Gangster. Gangster City: The History of the New York Underworld 1900-1935. Notorious New Yorkers: Two Gun Crowley. Notorious New Yorkers: The Bobbed Haired Bandit. Notorious New Yorkers: Vivian Gordon.